A few weeks ago I took the bus to Ouaga. Sat next to a young woman and her daughter. Cute kid . . . probably about three or four years old. No, this isnt' the kid. This, as well you know, is little Victorine . . . and I don't need an excuse to post her photo. Anyway . . . the bus had been delayed due to a petit problem. Regardless of what’s wrong with a bus in Burkina Faso, the bus company will always describe it as merely a petit problem. Engine on fire? Not to worry . . . it’s only a petit problem.

I’m always amazed that the Burkinabé can crawl under a bus with a large wrench and repair just about anything. Not a set of wrenches. Not an adjustable wrench. A single large wrench. I always think of Rusty when I see this phenomenon . . . though Rusty would probably add a roll of duct tape and somehow repair the A/C on the bus . . . or add wings. Anyway, the point is that the Burkinabé are very clever. But the young woman next to me seemed less than confident. Obviously Catholic, she repeatedly crossed herself and said a quick prayer as the bus engine engaged. Her daughter tried to mimic her genuflect but only succeeded in touching her forehead several times. I'm not Catholic. I don't know how to actually genuflect. But I do remember: spectacles, testicles, watch, wallet. I took the daughter's hand and tried to help her. She giggled, and the mom just smiled  patiently. . . though mom did seem distracted from her fear.

Speaking of fear. Before the bus departed I was sitting on the bench under the shade of the giant neem tree at the bus station. A gare attendant asked me to move, though in Pô's local Kassem language, I didn't quite catch the reason why. Ah ha! The flushing of the bats. I needed to move so that the bats would leave their nesting area and find other accommodations for the day . . . so that bus clients wouldn't get pooped on. There's no nice way to say that. Sorry. So how does one flush hundreds of bats? Well I'm so glad you asked.

Take a giant empty tin of tomato paste. Punch a hole in the bottom. Push through a wire or string. Find another, smaller empty tin. Punch a hole in its bottom and nest it inside the larger tin. Then tie the wire to a long string, send a child high up into the tree, and dangle the tins over a branch. When it's time to flush the bats, simply pull repeatedly on the string. Voila! Lots of noise, and lots of moving bats. Very exciting. Very effective.

What was said before spectacles were invented? Can I VRF that? Formation on desensitization to fear of public transport? We can only speculate.